Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
Figure 7.16
The oldest operating McDonald’s is in California.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Whereas Starbucks might have overexpanded, McDonald’s plans to add fourteen thousand coffee bars to
selected stores. [7] In addition to the coffee bars, many McDonald’s stores are remodeling their interiors to
feature flat screen televisions, recessed lighting, and wireless Internet access. Other McDonald’s
restaurants kept their original design, which customers still like.
The Decline Stage
When sales decrease and continue to drop to lower levels, the product has entered the decline stage of
the product life cycle. In the decline stage, changes in consumer preferences, technological advances, and
alternatives that satisfy the same need can lead to a decrease in demand for a product. How many of your
fellow students do you think have used a typewriter, adding machine, or slide rule? Computers replaced
the typewriter and calculators replaced adding machines and the slide rule. Ask your parents about eight-
track tapes, which were popular before cassette tapes, which were popular before CDs. Some products
decline slowly. Others go through a rapid level of decline. Many fads and fashions for young people tend
to have very short life cycles and go “out of style” very quickly. (If you’ve ever asked your parents to
borrow clothes from the 1990s, you may be amused at how much the styles have changed.) Similarly,
many students don’t have landline phones or VCR players and cannot believe that people still use the
“outdated” devices. Similarly, payphones are rapidly becoming obsolete.